Trembling and Obedient
by lucifer ravana
Summary: He was not angry that she had chosen another, only amused at the idea. But she would fall back to him because he knew what made her cry out in the darkness when no one else could hear... LM/LP


He woke her then, and trembling and obedient, she ate that burning heart out of his hand.... Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her? Find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight, and ache for him?

'Burning Heart'; Based on Sonnet I, La Vita Nuova by Dante (used in David Mamet's screenplay of 'Hannibal' by T. Harris)

~ * ~

"I came to say goodbye."

Lily stood in the doorway to the Slytherin prefects' office... her eyes taking in the small room for the last time. How often had she come here since that first encounter? How often had that leather sofa, or the desk, or the tapestries on the walls been the sites of their fierce, passionate couplings in the last two years?

She bit her lip, steeling herself for when the silver eyes would turn to her. Silver eyes that could make her melt, or burn with a single glance... Eyes that she had let have complete power over her.

Never again.

"Yes. You and Potter, hmm?" Lucius' back remained to her for a long moment. "The perfect little Gryffindor golden couple. McGonagall must be beside herself." He turned slowly, "Do tell me, Evans... what sort of lover is your new beau?"

His eyes burned into her skin, undressing her with a self-assured possessiveness in his gaze that made her flush. "That's beneath you, Lucius," Lily managed, her voice a mere whisper.

"I suppose it is... but I am curious, you see..."

A step towards her, ever the predator. Her heart was pounding in her chest: fight or flight had long since been linked with more amorous motions when it came to this man...and she could feel herself growing warm under his gaze.

"What on earth that insipid nonentity could have... that would lure my little firecracker out of this web we have woven for ourselves...?" Another step towards her, taking his time... watching her start to tremble and allowing the beginnings of a smile to pull at his lips.

Lily bit her lip and tried to look firm, resolved in her decision. "He loves me... and he doesn't make me cry." Unspoken: you delight in my tears sometimes, you bastard, and you know it...

"If he does not make you cry," Lucius inched closer to her still, "then he cannot see how beautiful you look when you weep."

He was finally standing before her, his eyes burning into her own with the same intensity that had made her wither before him so many times previously.

Wither but never truly wilt.

She resisted the urge to back up a step... to put some distance between them with a little retreat, because she would not give ground. Not this time.

And she would not look into those eyes that had been her downfall so often... instead, rather, she regarded him through her eyelashes.

"James loves me." She repeated it like a mantra, in spite of the fact that her voice was softer and huskier than she would have wished it to be.

"The world loves you, Lily. The professors, your little Gryffindor pals, the idiot Hufflepuffs and the annoying Ravenclaws. You've even managed to enthrall a few Slytherins. You like to be loved, don't you? So much that you'd turn away from what you truly desire in order to feel love from someone who could never be what you really want..."

Emotions always seemed so dirty whenever Lucius spoke of them. As though they were the true evils of the world, and had to be extinguished quickly before they took control.

A slow shiver danced down Lily's spine, and she tried so very hard to ignore the truth in his words, the knowledge in his eyes. Damn him, and that soft voice of poison-honey temptation... that could whisper things to her that she shouldn't listen to. Shouldn't secretly revel in.

And damn those eyes - the sheer possessive knowingness in them of the man who had taught her to dance on the edge of a knife... who taught her that the thorns can be the most beautiful part of any rose.

Damn him to hell...

...because she knew that, one day, she'd see him there. And that was a strangely comforting thought.

"I don't deny wanting you, Lucius... I can't pretend that..." A shake of her head, an in-drawn breath in an attempt to calm down... but she only ended up tasting his scent and further twisting the ache of desire in her gut.

"I can't pretend that what we share-" Little frown, correction. "What we've shared doesn't make me tremble with..." Deep breath. "...with desire..."

What was the point she had been trying to make?

Lucius revelled in his own control over the girl. Making her writhe had always been one of the highlights of his day. How she twisted underneath him, both in bed and out. She never fully submitted to his whims, but had been as docile as possible.

"I know you don't deny wanting me, Lily," he pronounced her name, drawing it out in a seductive tone. "But I must disagree with you on your last statement." If it was even a statement. "I can make you tremble."

His fingers were at her cheek, stroking the soft skin before trailing down her neck to end up at her shoulder. "I've seen you tremble before, both with desire and need. I'll see it again, but will your new lover? Can he make you shiver? Can he make you crave with such a need as to leave you twisting the bedsheets at night, wanting more and screaming for less? Does he know what you want? What you desire?"

His voice was a soft caress in itself. He was not angry that she had chosen another, only amused at the idea. But this amusement would end soon and she would fall back to him. She would because he knew what made her cry out in the darkness when no one else could hear.

She licked her lips... letting out her breath in a quiet plea, "Lucius... Please...." Please what? Carry on? Stop? She wasn't sure anymore, catching herself leaning into his touch. A little shake of her head.

Bastard.

"You're begging now? Would you beg your new lover as well? Would he let you? Would he frown at you in disgust or pity? Or perhaps you wouldn't even have to beg him for anything... Yes, I think that would be the way it is. He is sweet with you. Kind. Giving. He loves you, Lily, doesn't he? He loves the ground you walk on, doesn't he? He'll buy you things, make you feel special. But he won't give you what you want. He can't. He does not know how. His love is his blinding point and yours as well."

His lips brushed against her cheek where his fingertips had touched. "Such a pity that the astute Gryffindor cannot even see what is in front of her. You don't want love, Lily, you want adoration. And adoration is something he can give to you and I cannot. But in reverse, I can give you just the opposite. What do you want and what do you need, Lily? Neither of your answers are the same. That's why you come to me and secretly yearn for him. That's why you yearn for me and go to him now."

She shut her eyes at the soft kiss, allowing the anger that he had created and stoked to burn through her, bright and fierce.

Cleansing.

Never mind that anger had never been a defence against him before... never mind that he revelled in her fury just as he did her tears... She'd use the anger as her armour. "How dare you?" a soft, indignant growl.

"How dare you say such things?"

"Yes, how dare I ensnare you in such a way. How dare I make sense of your situation in a way that you do not like, but is the complete truth. How dare I expose you to such harsh elements as your own desires. How dare I, Lily." With his thumb, he stroked along her jaw-line, enjoying the aura of fury that surrounded her.

"I dare because I am what I am. And that's why you allow it. That's why you keep coming back. Deny it all you want. Deny it as soon as you leave this room. But I will remain with you, Lily. I will remain. But I will not wait for you."

"I'm not asking you to," she gritted her teeth... the pad of his thumb caressing over a spot he had bitten so many times to make her groan, or to make her scream. Even the memory of that could awaken yearning for him...

"Your voice is quiet but it's all there, Lily. In your eyes. In those eyes, I see a young, fragile girl who wants to be broken but would never allow herself to be. So she runs to the nearest safety point. The nearest person who could make her feel safe."

He gave her his typical arrogant smile. "Perhaps we are both deceived by you. Perhaps you do not want love or adoration. Perhaps you simply want safety. But safety from what? From your own desires? From your own self? You may run from that, Lily.. But you will never escape it."

"I'm not afraid of myself..." She lifted one hand and pressed her fingers to his mouth to stop his words... to silence those horrible accusations, purred in that same silken tone that caressed and seduced.

'I'm afraid of the power you have over me... I'm afraid that if you say the right thing, or touch me again, that I'll fall back into your eyes and never give James a second thought...

'I'm afraid of the sweet intoxication of you...'

He kissed her fingers and then licked them. Salty. She had been nervous before she came in to see him. Was she still nervous now? Probably.

Oh, Lily, he might have said, you're an open book for the right person to read. But you've chosen an illiterate. More's the pity.

His hand went up and gently removed her hand from his mouth. "You fear." And he left it at that.

Her fingers wrapped around his... and she was lost.

The tension melted from her manner in surrender to him for the how-many-hundredth time... and yet, a surrender still as complete as the very first time. "Yes."

"Why is that? What is there to fear?" He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed along the knuckles, the back side of her hand, down to her wrist.

She was his.

She would always be his.

She could marry whomever she wanted, but he knew that even if she strayed, he would still be within her mind.

He would not have it any other way.

Surrender was given and was accepted.

No quarter asked for, none expected.

"I don't know..." Or perhaps she ought to have said 'I don't care...' Lily lightly touched his cheek as he kissed her wrist... how was it that he could make even the least sexual body parts feel like an erogenous zone? And the already-sensitive burned at his touch...

Lucius turned her wrist over so it was facing him and nipped lightly at the veins there, tracing their path with his tongue. Sometimes, she let it be too easy. Or was he simply getting to know her better? It would be quite a shame for her to be taken away from him now, just as he was beginning to feel the slightest twinge of feelings for her.

Wordlessly, Lucius drew her into his arms, kissing her passionately and deeply, as though claiming her for his own. But he had no reason to do so, for she was his.

Always his.


End file.
